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Nosey Neighbours

This is probably going to be the most boring post ever made on my blog and of little interest to many, but it seems our neighbours want us naked in front of the whole world so here we are.  This is a public declaration of the inside of our house as of Sunday November 2nd 2008 – bar the bedrooms of occupants nine years and up, who have requested some semblance of personal liberty and privacy.

Wasn’t that fun?

Larrikin cashing in on Kookaburra from Down Under?

Sunday Herald Sun
Men at Work sued over Down Under
Written by Nui Te Koha and Sue Hewitt

October 12, 2008 12:00am

TWO of Australia’s most loved anthems are locked in a courtroom showdown.

Publishing company Larrikin Music claims Men At Work’s global hit Down Under rips off the popular children’s song, Kookaburra.

"This is a battle between two icons," Larrikin Music Publishing managing director, Norm Lurie, said yesterday.
"We claim the song Down Under contains the ‘Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree’ refrain.
"That refrain is an integral part of Down Under and we are not being compensated for that song.
"The Kookaburra aspect of that song has never been acknowledged."

The matter is scheduled to be heard in the Federal Court in November.

In a statement of claim lodged in court, Larrikin is seeking compensation from Down Under’s songwriters, Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, along with record and entertainment giants Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Sony DADC Australia, EMI Songs Australia and EMI Music Publishing.

In a strange twist to the tale, Mr Lurie said he launched the court fight after an alleged Kookaburra connection was raised on the ABC TV quiz show, Spicks and Specks. He said the question: ‘What children’s song is contained in the song Down Under?’ was posed on the show, and answered: ‘Kookaburra‘.
"The next day, my email and phone lit up with people asking: ‘Do you know about this?’.

In court documents, Larrikin said Kookaburra was written by Toorak college teacher Marion Sinclair in 1934 for a girl guide jamboree in Melbourne. She signed over her copyright to the Libraries Board of South Australia in 1987, a year before her death, it said.  In 2000, Larrikin took over the copyright in an agreement backdated to 1990, it said.

Larrikin, in court documents, claimed that in 1981 Hay and Strykert wrote Down Under using a "substantial part of Kookaburra" — the flute section.

In a statement of defence, Sony BMG and Sony DADC said since 1983, when Down Under was the unofficial anthem of Australia’s challenge for the America’s Cup, the song was known.

Sony’s statement said the owners of the Kookaburra copyright should have known Down Under, including the alleged flute rip-off, had been played regularly for nearly 30 years.

Sony BMG said in a statement yesterday: "This is properly a dispute between two rival music publishers, Larrikin and EMI Music Publishing. Sony has, at all times, fulfilled all its obligations."

Music industry commentator Molly Meldrum said: "I used to sing Kookaburra when growing up, but it does not remind me of Down Under.

Source:

Men at Work sued over Down Under - Sunday Herald Sun (Oct 12th 2008).

These copyright legal litigations are getting absurd.   

For the majority of Australian children Kookaburra is a popular folk song taught at schools across the country. And it’s not like Down Under has been a secret for the last, what? 27 years!

The song Down Under falls into the Pop Art category, if any song ever did. Down Under is afterall, a song about Australia.  It is a comment on Australian culture, referencing a number of popular cultural icons, to the point it is recognised as an iconic national symbol itself. Regardless of the Kookaburra refrain, Down Under is clearly its own song, an individual creation in it’s own right.

 

Larrikin did not own the copyright of Kookaburra in 1981 when Down Under was released, and certainly Marion’s estate will not benefit from any court decision as she signed the rights to Kookaburra away in 1987. In fact, Larrikin Music itself was owned and operated by an Australian, Warren Fahey, for Australian recording artists until it was sold to Festival in 1995.

Previous to the Spick and Specks program Larrikin were obviously ignorant of the Kookaburra refrain in Down Under. Larrikin Music have lost no revenue because of Down Under. It’s clear as day that Larrikin are simply trying to cash in. Whatever the result, the only people who are going to make any real money out of this are the legal professionals bantering about this pedantic bullshit.  

So much time and money is wasted in these pointless legal processes.  The courts are a place for justice, not opportunitist motions for profitable gain. We KNOW what the RIGHT result for this court battle should be, but the system is going to allow the charade to play out anyway.

Who are the real larrikins here? The recording industry giants? The courts? The lawyers? Perhaps it is us – the everyday apathetic Aussie - if we start allowing our legal system to languish about with Clayton’s cases like this one.

"Intellectual Property is the oil of the 21st century" – Mark Getty, chairman of Getty Images.

Catching Up

A whole year goes by and I’ve hardly touched my space … well it’s time to revamp and catch up! Some of the new features are pretty cool, like improved image embedding for articles, the guestbook, and also the ability to customise the theme. Certainly some features are still lacking – such as spellcheck and HTML buttons similar to the old MSN groups – which could be useful tools for speeding up article publishing with nicer layouts.

Moving on with this update, let’s begin with some of the happenings in my life over the past year which have kept me from keeping up-to-date with my online blog duties. Firstly, it’s been a busy year moving our family of ten to a larger house and adjusting to a new town.

 

I completed my Certificate IV in Information Technology (Website Design) and Reanimated Residue Multimedia Studios has been busy with various web development projects since.  Our website has undergone a massive transformation also - though far from complete, I’m quite happy with it now – however things have progressed so rapidily for us that it’s already in need of another overhaul so you might notice a number of changes occuring over the next couple of months. 

 

We’ve had another Christmas go by already, so here’s a couple of pics from Christmas 2007. The first is a natural Aussie Christmas Door Wreath.  The kids collected the native fauna from the park, including gum leaves and nuts, which I then assembled into a welcoming decoration more suited to the aussie festive season.  The second pic is our traditional Xmas Eve photo of the completed tree.  You can see our new aquarium in this photo – a hobby of my husband’s – but more about that later.  And taken at about 5:30am on Christmas Morning, is the third photo of myself, sporting new sunnies and a Virgo coffee mug.   

 

Aussie Christmas Door Wreath December 2007	Christmas Eve 2007
PoizonMyst – Christmas Day 2007

As always, Nanna and Pop sent gifts including these beautiful hand-crafted soft toys for the triplets. I thought they were really special and that I should share them with you.

The tag attached reads:

Barbara Sansoni designs

"Our products are about creation & design. They are about the inspiration and influence at work behind our intense passion for colour and textiles", Barbara Sansoni, founder of Barefoot Sri lanka.

In 1958, Barbara Sansoni, a colourist & artist, created the Barefoot concept out of a need for a rehabilition program for young Sri lankan woman who had limited schooling and skills.  Today Barefoot is a premier textile design company exporting exquisite hand woven fabrics, toys, linen, and clothing worldwide.

Barefoot Artisans are dedicaed weavers and needlewomen who, without time constraints of mass production, are able to produce premium quality workmanship.  Barefoot Sri lanka apposes exploitive practices.  Each artisan earns a real wage enabling them to support their families with self-respect and dignity.

100% hand woven fabric – 100% hand made – 100% natural fibres
Swiss dyes used are non-toxic & colourfast.

It’s always good to highlight a worthy cause and the everyday people who are implementing inspirational working solutions.  These toys are top quality products and I have no doubt they will last until the girls want to pass them on to their own children. So if you are looking for a unique gift for that special occasion, give Barefoot a look. You can also visit Barefoot Australia.

In August last year Reanimated Residue Multimedia Studios invested in some environmentally friendly personal transportation vehicles in the form of three Dyno electric bicycles. They have saved us so much money in taxi fares and have completed some 2000km each already.  These bikes have changed our life. Here’s a couple of pics. Read a complete review and Q&A on our website.

DYNO CX 24V 200 Electric Bicycle	PoizonMyst – Proud owner October 2007

I mentioned earlier my husband’s hobby so heres a couple of pics from our aquarium.  These pics are a bit old – again around Oct/Nov 2007 – so the fish have grown somewhat since and need a new tank already.   I tell you it’s a scarey thing to feed these critters, let alone putting your whole arm in the tank to rearrange the neighbourhood ornaments.  I’ve always enjoyed watching the community interaction of fish.  I can sit for hours captivated by their little domestic disputes and mating rituals. Hmmm … I think I mite have been watching too many David Attenborough documentaries lately.

Anyway, when I get a new camera I’ll be able to share some newer photos, but for now let me introduce you to our tank of territorial predators.

Electric Blue Cichlid	Green Terror & Convicts

Well that’s a pretty good start for an update … but I’ve got plenty of new stuff to write about so I’ll be back a few more times over the coming weeks. I hope all the mum’s out there had a fabulous day yesterday for Mother’s Day 2008!  Anyway, until next time, Cheers!

Triplet Breakfast Milkshake

Into a measuring jug combine:

 

3 Weetbix
2 Bananas
250 grams Strawberry Yogurt
100 mls Heinz Multigrain Mix
Fill to 900 mls with Milk and blend with an electric hand mixer.

 

Poor into Dinky cups and serve.

Bin Laden Arrested at Apec?

Would APEC security notice if Osama Bin Laden arrived at APEC in the Canadian diplomatic convoy? Apparently not.

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly Osama Bin Laden, but rather a popular Australian media personality dressed as the world’s most wanted man, who managed to infiltrate the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) security red-zone before being arrested 10 metres from the Sydney’s InterContinental Hotel, where American President George Bush has been staying during the summit.

The stunt made world headlines when several team members of the successful Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) satire television program, Chaser’s War on Everything, were arrested and charged under section 19 of the APEC Meeting Act 2007 on Thursday September 6th, after being waved through security checkpoints with a fake motorcade consisting of three hire cars flying Canadian flags accompanied by a motorcycle escort and security guards on foot.

Canada was chosen by the Chaser team because they thought it was a country that would not be heavily scrutinized by police in a comedy sketch intending to mock the overkill that is APEC security.  But the lads got more material for their efforts than expected as they were welcomed through two security checkpoints with team members wearing no more than an “insecurity” id blatantly stating the convoy as a joke. 

The Chaser crew was denied media accreditation prior to the summit, and in an article published on September 2nd, executive producer and cast member Julian Morrow warned, “We’re hoping at least three of the team will be arrested,” in plans to “play with APEC”. Morrow was among the 11 detained, which also included the 3 hire car drivers. NSW Police Commissioner Andrew Scipione says The Chaser team were specifically told not to conduct “dangerous stunts” during APEC week.  Speaking for the first time since his arrest Morrow said, "lucky it was us and not Al Qaeda."

The skit has thrown doubt over the effectiveness of the AU$170 million security operation which has had large portions of the Sydney CBD in lockdown since the start of the conference on September 2nd.  It involves some 3500 officers, including riot police and military personnel.  Authorities and organisers are in desperate denial hoping to save face over the bungle, with Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer quoted as saying “The point is they were in any case arrested, so I think the security works”, while NSW Police Minister David Campbell said, “I think this reinforces that APEC security has been successful by the mere fact that 11 people have been arrested”. 

What both fail to mention is that “When The Chaser reached the perimeter of what they thought was the APEC restricted zone, they voluntarily turned around,” said The Chaser in a statement released today.  It was only when Chaser comedian Chas Licciardello emerged from the vehicle wearing a long white robe and fake beard stating “I’m an important world leader. Why don’t I have a seat at the APEC table?” that Police finally realised and moved in to conduct arrests.

Also revealed yesterday, two police identification passes were incorrectly issued to staff members of the government Opposition which theoretically gave them unrestricted access to all APEC secure zones.  The passes were eventually revoked and new passes issued in replacement, but again the error confirms uncertainty in what is the biggest security operation the country has ever seen.

The Chaser team was released on bail to appear in court on October 4th and face a maximum of six months jail for entering a secure area.

Twas the night before Christmas

Well Okay … so it’s actually Christmas morning now.  I’ve just finished wrapping all the pressies and stacking them around the tree for the kids to wake up to in the morning.  Here is what it looks like now.

Merry Christmas Everyone!